The Story of Mark Adamson
by Apologetic
Summary: Shortly After Terra's sacrifice, a new Titan arises.
1. Chapter 1

The Titans were getting their butts kicked, to put it bluntly. Beast boy was on the ground with intense internal bleeding. Starfire was coughing up blood. barely standing up Cyborg was in pieces. Raven was out cold. And Mammoth was holding Robin In a choke hold. "So, Barf Brains" Gizmo said giddily, "What's it like to finally get whipped by the Hive Five?"

Robin struggled to get the words out "The … same … feeling … you'll … get … when … we…"

" Okay, enough talk" Jinx said "Mammoth, get rid of that thing in your hand"

At Jink's command Mammoth chucked the boy wonder into a nearby building. The team immediately started bickering about whether or not to finish off their archenemies.

Robin was sent crashing through a window, then a wall, then another wall as he laid in the alleyway on the other side of the perforated building, a figure in a red robe appeared. His costume appeared to be a hodgepodge of various halloween costumes, the robe from a red mage, a Ringwraith mask, some kind of Power Ranger knock off belt, he was either a villain or a superhero wannabe.

"Hold on, I think I can help" the stranger replied.

The next thing Robin knew he was being enveloped by some kind of white light, the pain in his body was lessening rapidly and his limbs were set right again. Within seconds he was back in fighting condition.

"Okay, that works" the hooded figure said "If you can distract the bad guys, I can heal your teammates."

"Deal." The boy wonder replied as he lept through the hole in the wall.

The new combatant scanned the battlefield for casualties and quickly found Cyclops about to kill Raven. The mystery fighter few energy blasts at the green villain, all of which missed. Robin threw a birdarang which deterred the one-eyed bad guy for just enough time to heal Raven. "If you're supposed to be a good guy, you should really rethink the hood" the Titan replied. "So, you got a codename or something?"

"Just call me Mark for now" the healer replied.

Mark for now turned and saw Beast Boy lying on the ground. Gizmo saw the new combatant. "Mammoth, deal with the medic before he heals all the Titans." Mammoth started towards the hooded figure. He backs into Starfire, heals her and asks "can you cover me while I try to help the last two?"

The alien looks at him oddly "You are already wearing a big coat."

"Throw those green glowey things at the bad guys and get the attention away from me!"

"Oh, sorry" Starfire attacks Mammoth.

Mark goes over and heals Beast Boy when he hears a voice behind him

"Hey Billy, I didn't know magic ran on batteries!" Mark checks a hidden pocket the battery pack was gone.

"Nice work Billy" the same voice said "Now Billy, could you finish off the new guy."

"Always glad to help, Billy" Mark and Beast Boy are surrounded by an army of the same guy.

"Don't you have a fifth guy?" Mark said

"Yo, down here!" Both look down and see Cyborg's head on the ground.

"Where's your torso, and gun arm?"

"Some of the Billys have my parts"

"AHEM" The Billys said in unison "we gonna have a fight or what?"

"I need my battery pack, I'm disarmed without it."

"Why do you need batteries to do magic?"

"Long story" Mark tries to engage one of the Billys but he easily defeats the new hero.

"Some advice from wise 'ol Billy"

"If your power don't help much in a fight"

"Then you need the fight'n skills ta compensate"

Mark removed his glove and placed it on Cyborg's head, oriented so that the face pointed up. The next thing everyone knew, a fully assembled Cyborg was lying on his back.

Cyborg was just as curious about the new guy as everyone else, but proceeded to finish the fight with hive five.

After the battle was Beast Boy asked "if you're the hive five, how come…"

"At one point you got a sixth member, so we thought we needed one too, he proved himself useful. " Jinx replied, "by the way what happened to that rock girl?"

Beast Boy shot her a look, "Okay, probably shouldn't have asked that question." The police hauled the team away.

The Titans turned their attention to Mark. "You can shoot healing beams and energy bursts, but only if you have this battery pack?" Robin asked "Also, instant repair?"

"My abilities work by skin contact."

"And your 'abilities' are…"

"Kinda hard to describe, on inanimate objects, specifically toy weapons, it will work like the real deal, on living people, they get healed of injury and sickness, but only if I close my eyes while touching."

"So why did you rush into the fight with only a suped-up LARP robe?"

"I was working on a sword go with the robe, but saw my opportunity when they attacked here. However my apartment is right… there." The Titans turned and saw tilted 45° and leaning on the next building. "I would like to join you guys, however I kinda need some help with my marksmanship, and fighting skills. Until I'm up to par with you, I can serve as a medic."

The Titans turned to one another. "Raven don't you already have healing abilities?" Robin asked.

"Empathic healing. I take the pain unto myself, if I tried what he accomplished, I'd be dead"

"Okay one concern out of the way," Robin said. "I think I can train him. From what I can tell, he doesn't have bad habits, he just lacks good ones."

"And if his power works like he said it does, I know just the weapons to give him" Beast Boy added. "Just don't give him Terra's room."

"Okay, Starfire, Cyborg, what do you think?" Robin asked.

"He has helped us greatly tonight, but I think he must reconsider his uniform, that mask does not look heroic" Starfire said. "Though this is doubtless an easy change to make."

"No problems here" said Cyborg "We got plenty of spare rooms in the Tower"

The team turned to their new member "well, Mark, looks like you're in," Robin said, "but you need to think of a codename."

Mark looks at his cloak "How about Red Robe?"

"Red Robe" Robin hands him a communicator "Welcome to the Teen Titans"


	2. Chapter 2

Raven, Starfire, and Beast Boy were not able to salvage a lot from Mark's old apartment. The kitchens and bathrooms were on top in the new orientation, causing a significant amount of water damage to those not on the top 15 floors (which broke completely of the building and crumbled sideways). What was left of his books told Raven that he did not aquire a taste for rarer books, so he could replace what was lost. What struck raven as odd though, was that for all the destroyed shelving, she could not find a lot of debris of the stuff that went on the shelves. However they were able to get the design for the sword that Mark was making and the finished blade.

When Beast Boy saw the design, he was geeking out, "Dude, the Mega Sword? Awesome!"

"So, why exactly are you trying to make a metal sword?" Raven said, "Wouldn't it be cheaper if you bought a plastic one given your powers?"

"I would be able to use any special powers and mystical properties the sword it's based on has, but it would still be plastic, unable to cut anything and easily broken. I was hoping stainless steel was good enough."

"It's not," Robin said "Stainless steel does not hold it's edge well, especially against modern alloys, the design is a good choice though, pretty, but practical."

Red Robe looked disappointed. Robin placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, don't worry, from what I can tell from the blade, you're not too bad at forging, it's just that the metal necessary is a little hard to come by. You'll have that sword before you know it, but you're going to have to train to use it properly"

After a traditional Tameranian "Welcoming feast", It was time to have the new Titan initiated. You've seen the episode, use your own imagination. Since it was late by the time Robe's initiation was complete, they decided it was best to do the orientation tomorrow morning

 **HIVE HQ**

"If there is one thing we know about him, it's that he uses some kind of magic." Brother Blood looked down on Cyclops and Kid Wykkid as he exposited "that strongly contradicts your finding, are you positive you two rummaged through the right apartment"

"Positive, only one apartment got looked through by the fliers, so that means that that was his place."

"As I, Jinx, or any other magic user in either the villainy or heroism communities will tell you, these people believe magic is evil as a whole, only one sub group of these people ever wielded supernatural forces and they are all dead" Blood pauses as something he studied came across his mind. "Actually, you may be right. Go inform your teammates, I have an urgent call to make."

as the two mercenaries left the room Brother blood typed into his secure channel. The call was to one of the HIVE's most frequent clients, the Order of 74.


	3. Chapter 3

Why do these projects never turn out well?

It should be a simple task, give the common soldier superpowers. But things either go wrong, or horribly right. Try to make them Kryptonian, you make them into bearded idiots. Try for enhanced intelligence, Slade came out. Just go for bulletproof skin, we wind up with this sad person who's overacting pain centers are slowly killing him. Can't at least put the poor guy out of his misery, we just had to get the bulletproof part right. Sometimes I think those heroes still allow these initiatives to give them something to laugh at when they think of their dead parents.

The international law forbidding superheroes from interfering with wars exists for a good reason, I just wish we can give the brave men and women who fight for our country more than just a cheap piece of metal that might help with an AK round.

-General Isling's report to the Senate on Super Soldier programs.

A man sits on the floor of his cell writhing in unimaginable pain. He had been like this since the experiment two days ago, but it felt like months. Suddenly a voice came to him _**Do you wish the pain to ceace?**_

 _Yes, please, make it end!_ he thought to the new voice.

An awkward pause.

 _ **Well, do you?**_

 _I SAID YES ALREADY!_

 _ **Oh, right, forgot. This telepathy only works one-way. I can project thoughts in, but I can't read the response, you're going to have to say it out loud, at least until you welcome me in.**_

"I welcome you." The man said, expecting the pain to leave

 _ **Great! Just invite me by name. I'm Eom, by the way.**_

"I welcome you Eom!"

The patient stood up free from pain " _ **sucker!**_ " he said in a voice that was not his.

Eom looked around the room, he now had a host body, he now needed to leave this cell, he walked over to the wall. _**Now let's see if I can do that thing the Flash does.**_ He started to vibrate his molecules faster and faster trying to match the frequency of the wall. He soon found himself phasing through the floor and into the room below, full of security guards. The demon within smiled. _**Very nice, I get my vessel and the first victims in under 15 minutes, let's try this super speed out properly.**_ In under a second all of the guards were dead, the Demonic-speedster had begun his rampage.

Red Robe woke up to a weird alarm. Robin opened up the door to the Living Room (which was where Robe was sleeping) to find Robe half way into his costume.

Robin threw Robe a new mask, it was shaped like his old one, but the hood was red a d the face covering cloth was white and stopped halfway down. Robe liked it instantly.

"Looks like orientation will have to wait until this is resolved" Robin said. "Titans, GO!"

Since this was a code 74 (speedster) alarm the fliers had to carry the non-flying members. Starfire carried Robin, Beast Boy was going to heft Cyborg, but Raven was having a difficult time getting Robe off the ground so BB carried the new guy while Raven carried Cyborg.

By the time the team got there the speedster had already killed an entire café full of people and was sitting casually at one of the outside tables. He slipped one of the victim's coffee while holding a ring box he had received seconds before his death. The speedster wrinkled his nose in disgust " _ **If this was your taste in coffee, then I think I did your fiance a favor**_." He said to the corpse beside him. He then turned his attention to the Titans " _ **oh, finally you show up, I was about to leave because of the slow service**_ "

Robin just gave a death glare at the killer. he let loose the team "Titans, GO!"

The speedster smirked as he rushed towards Red Robe knocking him down and getting quite a few hits on him before Robin knocks Eom off with a birdarang. The killer started to attack Robin. " _ **Shocked, are you? Tell me, did anyone you fought in your line of work follow the Geneva Convention?**_ "

 _Don't feed the troll_ Robin thought to himself, _this is the Joker with super speed, concentrate and power through._

After she had gotten the speedster's attention, Raven finally discerned his nature, "be careful, he's a demonic" suddenly her mouth was tied off _**Good girl**_ , the monster within thought so that Raven could hear.

Red Robe suddenly had a smile on his face. He turned to Robin, "If he's a demonic any christian, including me, can take him out of the fight."

"Go ahead and do it" the leader said as the medic healed him. Robe kept trying to say something but he kept getting interrupted by a speed-by punch from the demonic. Starfire and Cyborg got his attention. However in under a second, Starfire was unconscious and the speedster was about to phase Cyborg's heart through his chest, but that all Red Robe needed.

" _DEMON,"_ Robe shouted mustering up all his faith " _IN THE NAME OF CHRIST YOUR POWERS ARE INVALID!"_

The speedster's hand vibrated slower until it was just little jitters Cyborg smiled and said "about time" and quickly subdued the criminal. When he finally had an opportunity the speedster commented " _ **Two birds, your stone**_ "

Raven finally got the rag off her mouth. The Titans were about to head home and celebrate the new member's victory when Raven spoke up in shock "I … I can't levitate!"


	4. Chapter 4

On the ride home in the T-car, it became clear from from Raven's account that Red Robe had been tricked into knocking out Raven's power the Titans assured Robe that nobody blames him for this dilemma, but they will have to reconvene on what exactly has to be done. They are, at least temporarily, down a member. They got home and had the most awkward celebratory meal ever. Red Robe was still down about his mistake, The team was trying to encourage him recalling various screw-ups they have experienced or witnessed in their career.

Cyborg showed him his new cloak, made from a alloy of nano-cellulose and grapheme, it was bullet-resistant up until a tank round, yet slightly lighter than the last one, the battery pack was harder to get at, and the "spells" were triggered by flexing the arm and straightening it, and selected by the hand's position, he programmed it so that a fist fired the energy burst, and a "stop" hand fired the healing spell, there were room for two more but Cyborg was called to discuss Robe.

"Robe, before you start panicking, we have not decided anything." Robin told him. " We just need to know exactly what you did and why you did it."

"Uh," Robe fidgeted in his seat "the answer seemed obvious when Raven told us what was giving the speedster his powers, and technically sending him to Hell would be killing him"

"Demons can come back from Hell." Raven informed him.

"How many heroes and villains have come back from the dead?"

"Touché"

Beast Boy was holding back a tear. After stifling it, he asked "Still, is there anything in your doctrine about exorcism that the movies didn't talk about?" Beast Boy asked. "Specifically, an undo button?"

"Well, they say if you don't fill the slot the demon left, it will come back, perhaps the powers will come back as well if you don't do anything." Robe looked around nervously. "Am I, did I get myself… "

"We'll discuss that now, we just need one more answer," both Robin and Robe were nervous now "if Raven's powers are 'demonic,' how can she use them for good."

"It' all God's power, ultimately no matter who gave you the power, It's still your choice what you do with it."

"Robe, if you don't mind, could you go to your room, while we discuss it," Robin gestured toward the door "fourth on the right."

Robe was eager to see what his teammates had prepared for him, at least the one time he'll be allowed there as part of the team he noticed who was his next door neighbor, Terra. They still had a room for her? Wasn't she a traitor Wasn't she dead? When Robe got in his room, he sat down on his bed and prayed that the team would let him stay.

After Red Robe shut the door to his room, Beast Boy turned to Robin, "Dude, uncalled for."

"Just a concern I had, I don't want this to be Terra all over again." Robin in asked his teammates, "Before we begin, does anyone of you want Robe off the team?"

An awkward pause, "Raven?"

"Robin, your mentor keeps Kryptonite on his belt, I don't see why this has to be a problem." Raven then mumbled under her breath "...in fact it might solve something."

"Anyone else have comments?"

"Like you, Robin I do not want this to be like friend Terra's time, we should help him and I believe he will be Invaluable to this team."

"Same here Star" Cyborg said

"Ditto" sad Beast Boy. "Do you have a problem, Robin?"

"I had a concern, 'Christian' can mean a lot of things, not all of them good. A lot of the anti-alien, anti-meta bigots use that faith as their basis, but you're right, he did come to us for help. What I wanted to discuss is what we're going to do without Raven's powers, we're still effectively down a member"

Beast Boy had one answer, well two, but it still hurt too much to think of the other one, much less say it "Doom Patrol crash training, It took me from noob with powers to a force to be reckoned with in 3 days. It was borderline traumatic, but it got the job done, I think, If Robe really wants this, he'll have to be subjected to the same thing, with his healing abilities, he could do it faster."

"Okay, so what does this entail?" Robin asked.

"Okay, whenever he's good enough to train we each spar with him in turn telling him how we defeat him each time, he just needs some encouragement now and then, but that's how I got good."

Red Robe was called back to the living room, he was overjoyed to know that he was going to get to stay, a little less when he heard his training methods. He walked back to his room to prepare for what will happen in two hours.

Red Robe was working on additional weapons to use in his first training session, he came across a remnant from another costume idea, spirally X-ray goggles, like the Dr Insano villain from a web series he never would allow his mother to know he was watching. Under his mask, these would be a great asset if he could get the parental controls working…

as soon as he put them on a girl's voice shot through his head _Ugh! first my nose, now there's a_ [unladylike word] _CENTIPEDE on my leg!_ Robe tore off the goggles wondering what that was all about

Author's note: not a fun chapter, but a necessary one. BTW,could any of you tell me the name of the fanfic I just homaged? I can't find it. Reviews are greatly appreciated, God bless!


	5. Chapter 5

A girl stood in the alleyway talking to her mother on her new phone, the last thing her boyfriend gave to her before he died on the top floor of his collapsing apartment building. As she finished her conversation, a dark figure emerged. "Long time no see, miss. What brings you back to my neck of the woods?"

The girl looked down "mm-mm My boyfriend's ... dead."

"Oh, my sympathy" the man said. "But I don't think that's what you came here for."

The girl nodded "do you have it in stock?"

"Sure, one hit of Snowflame for… actually, you're going through a lot. This one's on me." The dealer tossed her the needle.

As she took the drug her entire body began to shake the skin around the eyes turned pitch black then the blackness ran down her cheeks. She stood up straight again with terror in her eyes and glee on her lips

"This vessel is not worthy of the next level. Get it into containers" the girl said in a monster's voice.

The dealer took out some equipment from his truck, he spoke to himself "it's not too bad, she'll meet him again soon. It's not too bad she'll be with him soon. It's not too bad…

The first day of training went pretty rough. It was surprising how many "basics" that were needed in order to just get to defense, breathing, standing, the vast majority of his reflexes seemed to work against him, but the knock-around-and-heal method seemed to accelerate the process. Superpowers cover more weaknesses than they create.

However, he also discovered his own weakness, he can't control who heals. His powers bring whoever he touches, whether he intends to or not, back into fighting shape, thus if it came to a close fistfight, his own powers will heal the opponent faster than Robe can dish out damage. The lightning attack would really come in handy there, by the end of the day, he was proficient at blocking, whether or not this would be serviceable, no one knew. No one had ever heard of a superhero medic before.

The next day there was rapid progress. By noon Robe was the equal of a mid-level henchman. He was theoretically capable of defending himself until one of the other Titans comes to assist him if he got into trouble.

Beast Boy felt like this was a good stopping point and decided to challenge the Cyborg Robin and Red Robe to a free-for-all match in Call of Honor: Modern Weapons. About five minutes in the team noticed that someone never fired his weapon. A couple of seconds later, Red Robe spoke up. "Hey! There are buttons up on this side of the controller!"

Red Robe went on a killing spree for the rest of the match, mostly because the other three players were stuck in facepalm. After the match was over Robe explained that his mother thought that all games were like Carjack Simulator 5, thus he was never allowed to touch a game console before he was thrown out.

"Why were you thrown out?" Beast Boy asked.

"I got my powers when a street preacher prayed over me and I got baptised by fire. my Mom, who was a christian but strongly opposed to organized religion, misunderstood that to mean that I was claimed by Satan. She and my Dad argued over what should be done about me and compromised on throwing me out of the house."

"How long ago was that?"

"Three years ago."

"And you're fifteen!?"

"Yep. Afterwards I went to Jump City First Baptist Church the big one across from the Wayne Enterprises building, plenty of resources. Was my home Church until I joined up with you guys, by the way I keep meaning to ask, I can't take this costume off, gotta be ready at any time, but the people at my church will know who I am, what exactly am I going to do on Sunday?"

"I picked out a new church for you, 74th Street Pentecostal. The most pro-meta church in town, Starfire will escort you in case a villain decides that would be a good place to strike." Robin said

"Awesome, thanks!"

Red Robe was working on the goggles again, this time determined to figure out who this girl is. All he could tell is that she is in a cognitive, but immobile state where she cannot move her arms. He walked out of the Tower with the goggles under his mask, listening to her complaints. If she was in a hospital, wouldn't they take care of the centipedes? The signal took him underground. It sounded like the voice was attempting to speak to Beast Boy. Almost like he was talking to her. This voice probably belonged to Terra

A couple of steps further and he started to hear Beast Boy's voice.

"Oh and then we met this new guy, calls himself Red Robe, he was kinda put on the spot to think of a name. He's got some wicked cool powers, but he's kinda unskilled, so he going to be our medic. With any luck, he could be used to bring you back."

 _Is he that dude behind you?_

At that Robe realized that he was sneaking in and not doing a good job of it. A near slip altered Beast Boy to his presence.

"Dude, what are you doing here?"

"Long story, I think I'm hearing that petrified girl behind you"

Red Robe had a tough time getting Beast Boy and Terra to take turns talking, somrob ultimately decided to put the goggles on Beast Boy, touching the rim in order to make it work. After a conversation that Robe only heard one half of, Beast Boy asked Robe if he could revive Terra.

"Worth a shot" the medic replied.

Red Robe tested his medi-beams on a stalagmite, the sound echoed through the chamber, the lights went off on the end of his cuffs, but nothing happened he then turned his attention to the statue of Terra. A golden light enveloped her.

 _I think this is working; keep going!_

Terra looked at her boyfriend and the new titan. It looked like Red Robe was shining a flashlight at her and Beast Boy had his fingers crossed, then he crossed his fingers on the other hand, then turned into a monkey and crossed his toes. The process seemed to take hours with little change, but eventually a weird flash eminated from Red Robe's cuffs, Terra was filled with a surge of energy she instantly became aware of her ability to move. She killed the bugs on her legs with one hand and scratched her nose with the other. She then looked at the two guys responsible for her restoration. When the glow faded from her and the medic's cuff, their elation was replaced with surprise and apprehension. She looked at her hand, she was able to move it like flesh but it still looked like stone. Beast Boy and Robe apologised for the mistake. After a moment's pondering she stepped off her pedistal and gave Beast Boy an awkward, but passionate kiss.


End file.
